If you're not registered already, you should probably set up a free account with the New York Times' website. Then you can read Tom Friedman's columns, and I won't have to say much of anything about our impending pre-emptive war/invasion/liberation/regime change in Iraq. Once again, he nails it on the head in an op-ed piece today. This time, it's the notion of letting GWB be the muscle behind Tony Blair's brain in the court of public opinion on this whole situation. Because I don't think anyone can argue that Bush is doing much to win anyone over. You might argue that we don't care what anyone else thinks, but that point of view tends to be the same one held by the country music fans leading boycotts of the Dixie Chicks for speaking out against Bush, so they clearly care what some people think. Just not the French.

And if you were to counter with the notion that we don't care what the rest of the world thinks, but if you're an American, you'd damn well better be waving your flag, then you really don't have a firm grasp on how this country is supposed to work. Of course, you're probably also a big country music fan, so it may be the least of your problems.

Speaking of music, I may have bartered away my soul by offering to actually listen to Justin Timberlake's solo album in exchange for a friend coming to see Project/Object play Frank Zappa's music last night. There's a chance I may have had my sentence reduced to an Allman Brothers concert, which isn't quite so bad. The good chance that the individual with whom this deal was made is reading this, though, could complicate my bargaining position.